A small section of Bath Abbey's floor is being lifted to be repaired for the first time in more than 100 years.
The work is part of a trial for the church's Footprint project to transform the building to make it more user-friendly. New underfloor heating will be installed under this section as a test. Eventually there will be heating under the whole of the floor.
The trial work, funded by donations from the Coles-Medlock Foundation and benefactors Brian and Margaret Roper, is scheduled to last until the end of the year.
The church will remain open throughout the work, although people entering the abbey will do so through the doorway nearest the Roman Baths, beside the shop.
Five small trial excavations of the floor which were undertaken in 2011 and last year revealed that the abbey's historic floor is at risk.
Through time and regular use, the floor is collapsing and leaving large voids, some of which extend under the structure of the building.
An area 50 metres square in the north aisle will have pews temporarily removed, and the stone floor lifted. Voids beneath the floor will then be carefully filled, drilling down to about two metres. Once the repair work has been completed, underfloor heating will be installed and a stone floor relaid. The heating system will then be monitored for its effectiveness over a period of 12 months.
Volunteers from the abbey and the National Association of Fine and Decorative Arts will be working during the early part of the project to record details from the ledger stones which have been hidden underneath the pews since they were installed in the 1870s during a previous renovation.
Footprint project director Charles Curnock said: "This is the beginning of an exciting time for all involved in the Footprint project. Many churches have a similar problem with their floor but none as large, or as busy, as Bath Abbey."
